10 signs you have healthy nails, even if it doesn’t feel like it

Unless you meticulously take good care of your nails and monitor them for any little variance, you might not know what sorts of things to look for in order to determine whether your nails are healthy or not. Healthy nails are important – likely more important than you even realise – so being able to recognise the signs yours are doing OK is crucial. Here are some signs you have healthy nails, even if it doesn’t feel like it. They’re a pink or mauve colour. Your nails should generally appear to be a pale sort of pink or mauve. And it’s not actually the nails themselves that are the colour, it’s the tissue underneath. “A nice healthy nail will have a pinkish or mauve hue as it reflects the colour of the nail bed underneath,” Dr. Erum Ilyas, MD, MBE, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist, told INSIDER. “When you apply pressure to this area, you should be able to make this colour disappear temporarily and reappear rapidly once pressure is released. This is a sign that you are well hydrated and have good blood flow to your tissues. By applying pressure you are pushing blood away from the tissues and then releasing pressure allows it to flow back in – this is referred to as the capillary nail refill test.” They’re not full of ridges. Although vertical nail ridges are normal, horizontal ridges might signify a problem. Deep horizontal grooves in your nails are known as Beau’s lines and they may… [Read full story]